NOT CONTENT WITH
TRIBUNAL VERDICT
>> The government and people of Karnataka are not content with the award of Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal and feel the state has been meted out with injustice, Karnataka minister said
>> The state got a mere 13.42 tmcft of water against 36.55 tmcft it had demanded. This is injustice to Karnataka. But the government is consulting experts on whether to challenge or not, he said
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MHADEI PROJECT ON
THE FAST TRACK
Says Karnataka's Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar ...
>> Works on Mhadei project will be launched at a brisk pace once all the legal and technical hurdles are cleared
>> The government is committed to spend as much funds as required to ensure completion of the entire project
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BELAGAVI: Karnataka's Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar has said Karnataka has decided to expedite preliminary works needed to ensure effective implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project in accordance with the final award pronounced by MWDT.
Shivakumar was speaking to media persons on Wednesday after visiting the site to inspect work on the project.
He also urged the Centre to issue a gazette notification on tribunal's final award, get the court stay on Kalsa-Bhanduri project cleared and grant a green signal from the Forest and Environment Ministry to help the state go ahead with Mhadei project works at Kalsa site.
“The state government has decided to expedite preliminary works needed to ensure effective implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project in accordance with the final award pronounced by MWDT. Hence, the state government had been making preparations to get the needed approval from Ministry of Environment and Forest, besides getting the stay issued by the apex court on the project cleared, to utilise 13.42 tmcft of water from the Mhadei river,” the minister said.
“Works on Mhadei project will be launched at a brisk pace once all the legal and technical hurdles are cleared,” said Shivakumar, assuring that the government was committed to utilise its entire share of water under Kalsa-Bhandura project judiciously.
He also informed that Karnataka has already spent Rs 250 crore on various works taken up under Kalsa-Bhandura project.
“The government is committed to spend as much funds as required to ensure completion of the entire project as announced in the state budget,” he said.
Asked about the rising opposition from environmentalists and eco-friendly groups from both Goa and Karnataka, the minister replied, “We too have been nature lovers and we ensure that the project work will not in any way affect the environment around it.”
“At least 499 hectares of forest land and another 191 hectares of private land is needed to implement the entire Kalsa-Bandudri project and the government is getting ready to acquire the required land,” he added.
Commenting on whether the government would challenge the final verdict of the tribunal, he said: “The government and people of Karnataka are not content with the final award of the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) and feel the state has been meted out with injustice.”
“The state got a mere 13.42 tmcft of water against 36.55 tmcft it had demanded. This is injustice to Karnataka. But the government is consulting experts on whether to challenge the verdict or not,” Shivakumar said.
During his visit to the site, the minister obtained information about the current status of Kalsa-Banduri project soon after inspection of the works at the project site. He was accompanied by Khanapur MLA Dr Anjali Nimbalkar and Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar.
